What Dreams May Come
by SotF
Summary: What happens when only a few minutes of time is shaved off of Palpatine's trip to Mustafar to recover Anakin, and Obi-Wan is forced to react to the approach of a second Sith Lord?


**Note:** What if Palpatine reached Mustafar earlier, what if Anakin wasn't as badly injured at that point...

* * *

Obi-Wan Kenobi stilled his thoughts in order to do what he could. A warning for his former apprentice, his friend, one he viewed as a brother, and now that was all he could do.

Time seemed to freeze as a roar filled the volcanic valley the instant Anakin leaped.

A warning in the force shook Kenobi as he lashed out, only managing a single blow before backing up.

He had thought that his strike would finish the fight, but nothing in his being would allow him to slay the one before him as Obi-Wan retreated. Anakin lay there with his hands missing, crawling from the pit.

Kenobi knew what had happened, Sidious had arrived to early. To allow the Jedi to survive, he had to run and run now.

A brief pull on the force and the lightsaber crafted by Anakin Skywalker flew through the air and into his grip before he fled for the landing platform with the force increasing his speed.  


* * *

Palpatine watched the smoldering form of his apprentice approach the lander.

He forced back a wince at the missing arms, the remains of the cybernetic limb sparking while smoke still traced from the stump of the other. It reminded him of the damage he had taken in the fight with the Jedi Masters.

Pain, anger, hatred, and fear filled the air like a symphony, as he signaled to his guards to give the boy aid and bring him to the ship.

"We have to go," Anakin stated with a desperate gasp, "Obi-Wan, he took her..."

The old man nodded slowly as understanding came, "Yes, we will give pursue."  


* * *

Kenobi paused as he waited for the virus to finish its job.

Amidala had died from a mix of her injuries and the exhaustion brought on by labor, a sad loss before her children were split up with no parent he could leave them with.

Bail had already left with Leia and Yoda.

For himself, he would take Luke to Tatooine, at least the boy would be raised by family, even if he wouldn't know the truth.

But a Venator-class Star Destroyer had dropped from hyperspace above Polis Massa before he could finish the destroying the records. The force warned him that both Anakin and his new master had come.

Blaster-fire alerted him to other problems as the program finished its job.

A slight sigh of relief crossed his lips before he used his lightsaber to destroy the console before him, ensuring that there would be nothing left to find.

Even if he couldn't get Luke away from this place, Leia would be safe.

He moved down the corridor, blade dancing as it tore through the clones that stood in his way.

"You," he heard a snarl, a twisted version of a familiar voice, "You bastard..."

Obi-Wan Kenobi spun, sapphire blade catching the opposing one of ruby.

"Anakin," he asked, "Why?"

Anger and rage poured out as their blades blurred between crashes, each stroke being matched in tandem by two men who knew each other far to well.

It seemed like hours as they fought, but Obi-Wan knew better than that.

He could feel the Emperor approach more slowly than his former apprentice had come, and knew that to face both together was suicide.

Sith, if Yoda couldn't win against that stain upon the force, he didn't stand a chance.

The force warned him as he struck.

Anakin froze as the blood red blade severed the Jedi's arm between wrist and elbow.

Then the Sith Apprentice staggered back a step before glanceing down at the blue blade piercing through his chest.

Both froze, eyes meeting in shock from both.

An empty scream tried to leave the younger mans lips as Kenobi saw the other Sith approach them.

And then Anakin fell.

Chaos reigned for a hellish moment as the force itself screamed in anguish.

The chosen one had fallen, and the son of the force itself was dead.

Raw power surged outwards in visible ripples of force power that knocked the two remaining force users to the ground, and the clone troopers fell like rag dolls.

Kenobi rose as quickly as he could, pulling his lightsaber from the floor with his remaining hand as he fought to remain conscious. Something was missing, and he tried to figure out what.

The force had left him, but he remained alive as a new batch of clones charged into the tight corridors of the medical facility.

There was no possible way he could reach Luke and escape in time.

Driving the blade into the blast doors controls before diving through before they sealed.

It was the same ship he'd taken here from Mustafar, now he just had to survive his own exit from the system  


* * *

Palpatine felt the shock of the force being stripped from him, every piece of his being fighting the damage caused by the wounding of the force as his apprentice died before him.

He felt old for the first time in his life as he lay there watching as Kenobi cut and ran.

It took a lot of effort and the help of his guards to reclaim his feet.

Walking slowly, stumbling twice in the process he moved through the medical center towards the room the Jedi had been heading towards.

He spotted the incubator in the center and the medical droid in attendance.

A baby lay there alone and seemingly weak, silent as the grave yet his motions full of life.

"His name?" he asked the droid while picking up the child.

"Luke," came the answer an instant later in the emotionless tone of the 2-1B series.

This had to be a sign, Sidious believed, a sign from the force itself.

With Anakin dead, and his own powers crippled, he had been given someone to train.

He remembered the legends of another Sith Lord from long before, one who had been severed from the force and had trained one in the path to follow. No knowledge of her apprentice had reached him, but he would walk the path of Treya while he hoped to reforge his own connection to the force.

"Young Skywalker," he whispered in an oddly consoling tone, "You will be great one day."


End file.
